Meyer Schapiro

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Meyer Schapiro, U.S. art historian, teacher, and critic (born Sept. 23, 1904, Siauliai, Lithuania—died March 3, 1996, New York, N.Y.), was an important figure in New York intellectual circles for over 50 years. Although he gained his reputation in the field of art history, he was determined to discover the relationships between all schools of knowledge, and he shared his insights and enthusiasm in lectures and books, aided by his remarkable photographic memory of both books he had read and works of art he had seen. When Schapiro was a schoolchild, his parents encouraged the free reign of his curiosity, and he explored a number of diverse activities; among them was an evening art class, at which he was the only child. He graduated from high school at 16 and entered Columbia University, New York City, with the aid of two scholarships. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1924 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in art history in 1929. Schapiro had taught himself German and read the work of the scholars Wilhelm Vöge and Alois Riegl, and it was those writings that led him to the subject of his doctoral dissertation: the cloister and portal of a French abbey, Moissac, known for its Romanesque sculptures. His five years of research revealed that the sculptures were not merely antiquarian religious artifacts, as had been thought, but in addition had been created for aesthetic reasons, as expressions of beauty that captivated observers across the centuries. When part of the dissertation was published in The Art Bulletin in 1931, Schapiro gained wide recognition. Appointed lecturer at Columbia in 1928, he spent most of his teaching career there, advancing through the ranks to university professor in 1965 and professor emeritus in 1973. He also lectured at New York University (1932-36) and the New School for Social Research (1936-52) and was Charles Eliot Norton lecturer at Harvard University (1966-67) and Slade professor of art at the University of Oxford (1968). Among his notable books are a four-volume series of essays and lectures: Romanesque Art (1977), Modern Art: 19th & 20th Centuries (1978), Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art (1979), and Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist, and Society (1994).